Work-at-home mum in net filth conviction

A US housewife has confessed to spamvertising internet porn sites in her spare time. Jennifer Clason, 33, of Raymond, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty to two offences under the US CAN-SPAM Act, and one count of criminal conspiracy, at a federal court hearing in Phoenix, Arizona on Monday. Clason, who's agreed to pay back the money she made from her anti-social activities, faces up to five years imprisonment on each count at a sentencing hearing scheduled for 5 June.

According to a plea bargaining agreement, Clason conspired together with two men (named as Jeffrey A Kilbride, 39, of Venice, California, and James R Schaffer, 39, of Paradise Valley, Arizona) in a gang that allegedly distributed numerous spam emails containing graphic pornographic images. Kilbride and Schaffer deny spamming, conspiracy and money laundering offences. Their trial has been scheduled to begin on 6 June.

The case against the trio followed more than 600,000 complaints from AOL users that they had received spam messages promoting adult pornographic websites between January and June 2004. Kilbride and Schaffer allegedly used bank accounts in Mauritius and the Isle of Man in order to launder and distribute the proceeds of their spamming operation.

Two other people, Andrew D Ellifson, 31, of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Kirk F Rogers, 43, of Manhattan Beach, California, have already pleaded guilty to offences under the US CAN-SPAM Act over their involvement in the operation. They are due to join Clason in the dock at the sentencing hearing on 5 June.

In between bombarding net users with porno spam and caring for her kids, Clason ran a website (mommyjobs.com) that offered help to mothers seeking to work at home as an alternative to office jobs and other forms of regular employment. In a brief bio posted on the site, Clason said she's been "running a full-time home-based internet business for seven years", and that she owns more than 10 different internet sales websites. ®